Natus Vincere (Latin for “Born to Win”) is a Ukrainian esports organization founded in 2009 by Alexander ZeroGravity Kohanovsky. The club’s Dota division was established in October 2010, back when the game was still known as DotA Allstars.

NaVi became champions of the very first The International 2011 and remain the only team in history to have reached the grand final of this tournament three years in a row.

Over the years, the tag has become an integral part of Dota 2 gaming culture, gifting the scene with countless legendary moments — from Dendi’s iconic Pudge to the “Million-Dollar Dream Coil” in the The International 2013 final — and the story of the first TI later served as the basis for Valve’s documentary film *Free to Play*.

The very first roster was formed back during the first version of the game, Dota Allstars, and included Alexander XBOCT Dashkevich, Andrei Mag Chipenko, Artur Goblak Kostenko, Alexander Deff Stepanuk, and Bogdan Axypa Boichuk.

With the release of the Dota 2 closed beta, Axypa and Goblak were replaced on the roster by players from the well-known CIS team DTS: Ivan ArtStyle Antonov and Danil Dendi Ishutin.

Shortly before the announcement of the first TI, Clement Puppey Ivanov and Dmitry LightOfHeaveN Kupriyanov also joined the team.

2011

In the summer of 2011, NaVi received an invitation to the first The International, which took place as part of the Gamescom expo in Cologne. The tournament’s prize pool was $1,600,000, which was a record amount in the history of esports at that time.

At the championship, the players confidently advanced through the entire upper bracket and defeated EHOME 3–1 in the grand final, earning $1,000,000. The victory at The International 2011 made the organization one of the most popular teams in the world, and Dendi won the hearts of fans with his artistic style.

Despite this success, ArtStyle left the roster, and Sergey ARS-ART Revin joined as the new player.

2012

The season began with victories at numerous international tournaments, including several StarLadder StarSeries events. Over the course of the year, the team won 9 championship titles at Tier 1 tournaments.

At The International 2012, the team once again reached the grand final but lost to the Chinese team Invictus Gaming with a score of 1–3. Despite the defeat, Natus Vincere remained the leading force on the professional scene.

2013

In early 2013, there were roster changes: ARS-ART was replaced by Gleb Funn1k Lipatnikov. Later, Kuro KuroKy Salehi Tahasomi joined NaVi, while LightOfHeaveN was moved to inactive status.

The new roster continued to dominate, winning a series of Tier 1 tournaments and once again reaching the grand final of The International 2013, where the team faced the Swedish squad Alliance. The final ended in a 2–3 loss and is still considered one of the best matches in Dota 2 history.

2014

After three consecutive The International finals, NaVi’s results began to gradually decline. The team remained one of the strongest in the CIS, but it could no longer dominate the global scene.

At The International 2014, they managed to finish only in 7th–8th place, after which Puppey and KuroKy left the organization. Their departure marked the end of a golden era, and the new players were Artem fng Barshak and Ivan Vanskor Skorokhod.

2015–2018

After the departure of Puppey and KuroKy, the organization faced a protracted crisis. The roster changed practically every season in an attempt to regain their former success, but they were unable to achieve stability.

They managed to qualify for The International 2015, but after a disappointing performance, the roster was disbanded. A few days later, the so-called “new era” was unveiled, built around Dendi and SoNNeikO. The new players were Dmitry Ditya Ra Minenkov and Dmitry Ax.Mo Morozov, and Ivan ArtStyle Antonov returned.

However, the new era did not bring the same success, and in the following years, Tag failed to qualify for the year’s main tournament several times, while constant roster changes only exacerbated the instability.

In 2018, Dendi, who had played for NaVi for nearly eight years and had become the organization’s main icon in Dota 2, left the team.

2019–2022

After Danil Ishutin’s departure, the organization continued to search for a new, stable roster. Over the course of the following seasons, many well-known players from the CIS scene passed through the team, including Vladimir RodjER Nikoghosyan, Vladimir No[o]ne Minenko, Roman RAMZES666 Kushnarev, and Alexey Solo Berezin. However, the club still failed to return to the ranks of the world’s top teams.

The organization also introduced new players to the professional scene, who gained widespread recognition thanks to NaVi. Among them were Vladislav Crystallize Kristanek, Bakyt Zayac Emilzhanov, Viktor GeneRaL Nigrini, and Fedor Velheor Rusikhin.

In 2022, results continued to decline, and the team made it to the playoffs of major tournaments with decreasing frequency. Gradually, management began to focus on young players and the NaVi Junior academy roster, which was unveiled at the end of the summer.

The starting five included Taras gotthejuice Linnikov, Richard Ri4man Kalnins, Yuri pma Prots, Tamir Daze Tokpanov, and Stanislav Riddys Mitroshkin.

2023–2024

In 2023, NaVi signed the entire PuckChamp roster, which allowed them to retain their spot in the Eastern European first division. However, the team once again failed to deliver consistent results.

The main problem remained the constant turnover of players. Over the course of several years, a large number of players passed through the roster, but not a single lineup came close to matching the successes of the Dendi and Puppey era.

In 2024, the focus shifted to youth players. The experienced Bakyt Zayac Emilzhanov, who had previously played for the club, joined NaVi Junior. With him, the team began to dominate Tier 2 tournaments.

2025

In June 2025, the organization disbanded its main roster, placing all players on the transfer list, and the youth roster took their place.

The main achievement of the season was the organization’s return to The International for the first time in six years. For the team, this marked the end of one of the most challenging periods in its history.

Despite still posting average results, the team began to make its mark, consistently qualifying for top-tier tournaments.

2026

The new season began with a second-place finish at BLAST SLAM VI, which was the organization’s best result in several years.

Currently, there are no players over the age of 21 on the roster, and the core of the team consists mostly of players from the original NaVi Junior roster: Taras gotthejuice Linnikov, Yuri pma Prots, Tamir Daze Tokpanov, Stanislav Riddys Mitroshkin, and Artem Niku Bachkur.

The coach is Danish player Aske Cy- Larsen, who previously spent three years leading Gaimin Gladiators, where he won numerous Tier 1 tournaments and finished second at The International twice—in 2023 and 2024.